22 April, 2011

VICTIMS OF THE SREBRENICA SIEGE UP UNTIL JANUARY 1993.

REPUBLIC OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
WAR PRESIDENCY OF SREBRENICA MUNICIPALITY
No. 176/93
Srebrenica, 22 January 1993.

- TO THE UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES Mrs Sadako OGATA
- TO THE CO-CHAIRMEN OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE ON BH /Bosnia and Herzegovina/ Mr VANCE, Mr OWEN
- TO THE PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Mr A. IZETBEGOVIC
- TO THE UNHCR, SARAJEVO Mr H. LARRY, Mr. Mendiluce
- TO THE UNICEF Mr GRANT
- TO THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS
- TO UNPROFOR, SARAJEVO General Morillon

SUBJECT: Appeal for Assistance

Srebrenica has been besieged for 292 days. The aggressor has decided that its residents will perish as a result of starvation, disease and cold, unless it first earns the title of another Guernica since the air force and artillery of the so-called Federal Republic of Yugoslavia are incessantly and mercilessly bombing the town (of which you are undoubtedly aware).

We wish to draw your attention to a few statistical data, and then leave it to your conscience to decide if you are going to help the residents of this doomed town to the best of your abilities.

At the moment, there are some 57,500 persons who have found shelter in Srebrenica, which is a considerable increase over the previous numbers (the pre-war population of Srebrenica was 27,200).

Since the beginning of the aggression, the aggressor has caused the following [figures apply for Srebrenica district only]:

- 1,720 persons were executed
- 912 persons were wounded
- 492 children were made orphans
- 42 persons contracted gangrene 25 of them died
- 5,700 persons suffer from tuberculosis, jaundice, typhoid pneumonia, entercolitis and other diseases
- 565 persons died of hunger, disease or cold
- over 70% of buildings have been burned down or destroyed

Behind these dull figures looms a tragedy of cosmic proportions. If the aggressors are allowed to pursue their criminal intent to the end, a new term will have to be invented for this crime, because a Nazi holocaust will be too benign a term to describe the monstrosity of this act.

Gentlemen, on behalf of the population of Srebrenica, and in the name of humanity and solidarity as universal UN principles, please ensure that "a rescue convoy" arrives in Srebrenica as soon as possible because every lost day will only bring more victims and suffering.

Are these data sufficiently inspiring for you to alert all UN agencies and other international institutions to take swift and effective action? Are you going to be silent witnesses to a crime, or are you going to provide assistance and thus prove to the people of Srebrenica that the principles of the UN Charter and international humanitarian law are not just empty words but are being upheld by the international community and conscience of mankind.

Unless aid in food, medicines, medical supplies, clothing and footwear comes soon, we shall not appeal to you again. It will be a message to you that, before the eyes of the whole world, the people of Srebrenica have been wiped off the face of the earth.

This will send a signal to present and future criminals to continue committing crimes elsewhere, as it pays off in a world lacking determination to take a firm stand against them.

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Srebrenica Genocide is not a matter of anybody's opinion; it's a judicial fact recognized first by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and subsequently by the International Court of Justice.